I like having focus prevention set to high, so that I don't have some stupid auto-launched app steal my typing in the middle of something else. Unfortunately, Unity keeps focus on the right window while raising the new one. A number of times, this has caused me to close an application by accident that had control of the menu bar, even though it was underneath the new window. Is there a way to prevent raise without focus?

I had the same problem and solved it by going into CCSM > General Options > Focus & Raise Behaviour. There, all I did was change the Focus Prevention Level to Low. Now, when I open an application via the Dash, it open up on top and has focus.